After four decades of animating some of the most beloved characters in Disney history, Mark Henn has officially retired. A renowned figure in the animation industry, his departure leaves a gap in the field of hand-drawn animation. Joining the studio in 1980, Mark Henn’s hand has touched nearly every film and short from Walt Disney Animation Studios over the past 43 years, from The Fox and the Hound through Wish.
(Disney/Richard Harbaugh)
Mark Henn’s name first rose to prominence during the Disney Animation Renaissance, famous for being the Supervising Animator on Disney’s heroines of the era, including Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Jasmine in Aladdin, and the title characters in Pocahontas and Mulan. His specialty for princess characters also led to his work on the character of Gisele in Enchanted (for James Baxter Animation), and Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.
Most recently, Mark Henn has taken on a mentorship role, imparting his wisdom to a new generation of animators, much the same as the Nine Old Men helped train Mark and his peers. In addition to doing hand-drawn overlays in review sessions for the most recent Walt Disney Animation Studios computer-animated films, Mark Henn returned to hand-drawn animation on recent projects like Get a Horse and Once Upon a Studio, both of which reunited him with Mickey Mouse, a character he famously animated in Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Mark Henn also directed the 2002 short film, John Henry.
The recipient of the Winsor McCay Award in 2017, in recognition of his lifetime achievement in animation, we wish Mark Henn a very happy retirement and look forward to his inevitable induction as a Disney Legend, a title he more than deserves.